Conflict of Interest

Can We Eliminate Nuclear Weapons? Author Ward Wilson thinks so


Listen Later

Author and activist Ward Wilson believes we can eliminate nuclear weapons and not because he is a woo woo liberal. Wilson has talked to the Generals, the diplomats and former presidents of countries. His experience led him to believe that worldwide elimination is possible because the weapons are not “useful’’ and because a nuclear mistake is more and more likely to happen. His central thesis is that since the development of the atomic bomb, a hazy and lazy argument has grown up around the weapons that make it difficult to think clearly about how to deal with them. The result: Wilson’s latest book -  “It is Possible: A Future without Nuclear Weapons.’’ It is endorsed by not one, not two, but seven Nobel Laureates and at least two former four-star generals, one of whom commanded the nuclear arsenal. The nuclear weapons historian Richard Rhodes calls Wilson’s work a “stunning breakthrough work’’ that gives us a way out from under what John Kennedy called the nuclear sword of Damacles. 

Martin Sherwin, a Pulitzer Prize winning historian and the author of the great book about Robert J. Oppenheimer called Wilson’s book: “Arguably the most important contribution to the debate over the efficacy of nuclear deterrence ever written.”

And the mayor of Nagazaki, Japan said: ““Ward Wilson’s book assures us that our vision of a “world without nuclear weapons” is not only possible but the only rational way to protect humanity and the planet from another Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

With recommendations like that, I wanted to know how someone could have broken through the fog and the paralysis in the country around nuclear weapons policy. 

I’ve known Wilson for 35 years. He has been working on this book his whole adult life. And the historians, generals and heads of state are saying he is on to something big. Join us as we take it on.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Conflict of InterestBy Kevin Ellis

  • 4
  • 4
  • 4
  • 4
  • 4

4

12 ratings


More shows like Conflict of Interest

View all
Pod Save America by Crooked Media

Pod Save America

87,530 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,081 Listeners

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart by Comedy Central

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

10,892 Listeners

Honestly with Bari Weiss by The Free Press

Honestly with Bari Weiss

8,789 Listeners